1. Immunopeptidomics-based design of mRNA vaccine formulations against Listeria monocytogenes
- Author
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Rupert L. Mayer, Rein Verbeke, Caroline Asselman, Ilke Aernout, Adillah Gul, Denzel Eggermont, Katie Boucher, Fabien Thery, Teresa M. Maia, Hans Demol, Ralf Gabriels, Lennart Martens, Christophe Bécavin, Stefaan C. De Smedt, Bart Vandekerckhove, Ine Lentacker, and Francis Impens
- Subjects
Vaccines, Synthetic ,Multidisciplinary ,Immunodominant Epitopes ,Listeria ,General Physics and Astronomy ,Membrane Proteins ,Biology and Life Sciences ,General Chemistry ,CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes ,Vaccines, Attenuated ,Listeria monocytogenes ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,Mice ,Bacterial Proteins ,Bacterial Vaccines ,Liposomes ,Medicine and Health Sciences ,Animals ,Humans ,Nanoparticles ,Listeriosis ,mRNA Vaccines - Abstract
Listeria monocytogenesis a foodborne intracellular bacterial pathogen leading to human listeriosis. Despite a high mortality rate and increasing antibiotic resistance no clinically approved vaccine againstListeriais available. AttenuatedListeriastrains offer protection and are tested as antitumor vaccine vectors, but would benefit from a better knowledge on immunodominant vector antigens. To identify novel antigens, we screen forListeriapeptides presented on the surface of infected human cell lines by mass spectrometry-based immunopeptidomics. In between more than 15,000 human self-peptides, we detect 68Listeriaimmunopeptides from 42 different bacterial proteins, including several known antigens. Peptides presented on different cell lines are often derived from the same bacterial surface proteins, classifying these antigens as potential vaccine candidates. Encoding these highly presented antigens in lipid nanoparticle mRNA vaccine formulations results in specific CD8+ T-cell responses and induces protection in vaccination challenge experiments in mice. Our results can serve as a starting point for the development of a clinical mRNA vaccine againstListeriaand aid to improve attenuatedListeriavaccines and vectors, demonstrating the power of immunopeptidomics for next-generation bacterial vaccine development.
- Published
- 2022